


going for the title (got hit by the tidal wave)

by adiwriting



Series: Heartbeat [7]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Kid Fic, M/M, Mpreg, POV Alex Manes, Single Dad Michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adiwriting/pseuds/adiwriting
Summary: It's not how Alex expects his first meeting with Nova to go. And it sure as hell isn't what he expects Michael to tell him...
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Heartbeat [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178315
Comments: 63
Kudos: 128





	going for the title (got hit by the tidal wave)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ALovelyLitwit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALovelyLitwit/gifts).



> So today is the final day of Brooke's birthday week! I hope everyone has enjoyed the daily updates. I'm going to keep adding on to this verse as long as my muse allows me to. I can tell you that updates won't be daily anymore, but I do hope they will be regular. 
> 
> And Brooke- I apologize in advance for the angst at the end. Malex is gonna be Malex.

When Alex rolls up to Sanders’ a little before 5 o’clock, he doesn’t immediately see Michael. Who he does see is Michael’s daughter — Nova, Michael had told him her name was Nova. She’s set up at a little fold out table and chair. Her hair is piled on top of her head, but there are several curls that have broken free and are dark with sweat. It doesn’t surprise him. Today’s a hot one. 95 degrees. It’s yet to cool off. It won’t cool off until the sun sets in another few hours. Alex is planning on talking Michael into sharing a milkshake under the guise of staying cool. 

Nova is wearing a pair of alien antenna that look a lot like the ones the waitresses at the Crashdown wear. She’s sipping on a straw, fruit snacks in front of her, as she writes in a workbook. Alex has never really been a big fan of kids. Never been around them all that much. But he has to admit that Michael’s daughter is pretty adorable in her little NASA sundress. Perhaps he’s just biased because she shares the same face as the man he’s been in love with for a decade. 

He turns off his car and steps out. The pitbull at the little girl’s side looks up at him in interest, but doesn't move. It’s made clear though that the dog will protect Nova if Alex makes any sudden moves. It’s nice. Alex always wanted a dog to protect him growing up, but his dad had been allergic. And an asshole. 

“My gampa will hep you in a minute, miffer,” she says, not looking up from her workbook. 

He takes a minute to look around the junkyard. It hasn’t changed much since high school. The only thing missing is Michael’s old truck. Alex had noticed this morning that Michael no longer drives it and it makes him sad to think about all the memories they shared in the back of that thing just gone. Still, this place looks the same and if it weren’t for Nova, Alex could almost convince himself that he’d stepped back in time. 

He steps closer to Nova, mindful of taking it slow so that the pitbull won’t see him as a threat. He figures he should at least attempt to be friendly to Nova. After all, if he’s going to be friends with Michael, it’s probably a good idea that he be able to get along with his kid. 

“What are you doing?” he asks. It feels like a safe enough question. 

“Pacacing maf,” she says, again not looking up. It gives Alex flashes of how Michael used to be in class: Head always buried in his book, pencil flying easily over even the most complicated problems, completely tuning out the rest of the class, including whatever lecture their teacher was giving. 

He looks over her shoulder expecting to see her tracing numbers or something. He’s shocked to see her working out multiplication problems by drawing little circles and tally marks. “You can multiply?” he asks, surprised. 

“If you can add you can mubapy,” she says with a shrug, like it’s not a big deal that she’s sitting here doing elementary level math. And she might be right. Multiplication is just repeated addition, but it’s still impressive. Alex is pretty sure he didn’t learn to multiply until third grade, and even then, it had taken him a while to actually master it. Clearly she inherited Michael’s genius brain on top of her adorable sun-kissed curls. 

“You in school?” he asks. 

“No.” She giggles like he just told a joke, looking at him like he’s being silly. “It fummer.” 

“So why are you doing homework?” he asks. As a kid, you could barely get him to do his actual assigned homework, he wasn’t about to do extra work. And certainly not over the summer. 

“It not homewok,” she says. “It fun. Daddy fayz if I wanna go to face, I gotta know maf.” 

“Go to face?” he asks, not understanding her speech all that well. He’s not around enough kids to follow their baby talk. 

“Face,” she says, looking at him like he might be an idiot. “You know.” She points up to the sky. “Face.” 

“Space?” he asks and she nods her head slowly and holds back a smile, like she’s about to laugh at him. 

“Dat what I faid,” she says. “Face.” 

Alex smiles down at her. Her NASA sundress and her astronaut dog suddenly making a lot more sense. Every kid has their hyper-fixation. Clay’s had been Superman, Flint’s had been GI Joe, Greg’s Pokemon. Alex was obsessed with Star Wars for years. Still rewatches it from time to time for nostalgia. Clearly Nova’s is space. Which makes sense given how much Michael used to love looking up at the stars. 

He wonders if Michael takes Nova out to the desert to stargaze like he used to take Alex. Curious if he still goes to the same spot or if he saves that spot just for him. Alex misses that spot. Hasn’t been out there with Michael in a long time. At least 5 years. 

“And that’s what you wanna do? Go to space?” Alex asks. 

“Yep,” she says with a big nod of her head, making her little antenna go crazy. “Efeone wanna go to face.” 

He chuckles at how sure she sounds. He’s willing to admit that he might already be in love with this little girl. “Well I don’t.” 

She puts down her pencil and looks at him like he’s crazy. Then her eyes narrow and she looks him up and down before pointing at his crutch. “What dat?” 

“It helps me walk,” he explains, shifting around a bit awkwardly, wondering if she’s about to start asking twenty questions about his leg. 

She crosses her arms and smiles at him like she knows a secret he doesn’t. “Dere no gavity in face. You no need in face. Face is bettah.” 

Alex stands there dumbfounded for a moment, shocked that he was just schooled by a four year old. There is no doubt in his mind that she’s Michael’s kid. If it weren’t for her little baby face and her underdeveloped speech, he’d think she was several years older than she is. He wonders if her smart mouth gets her into trouble as much as it used to get Michael into trouble. It’s hard to picture though. She’s too damn cute for anyone to get mad at.

“Okay then,” he concedes. “Space is better.” 

She nods her head, pleased with herself, before turning back in her seat and picking up her pencil to get back to work. “Gampa takin’ to my daddy. He be out foon.” 

“Actually, I’m here to see your daddy,” Alex says. 

“He woking on a ca,” she says, pointing in the direction of the garage. “Den he goin’ to dinnah wifout me.” She sighs dramatically as if Michael going anywhere without her is the worst thing to happen in the world. Alex can empathize with that. 

“What will you do?” 

She shrugs. “Unca Max gonna come. I’m gonna tell him I wanna ice ceam for dinnah,” she says, leaning in to whisper like it’s a secret. 

Alex laughs. He likes her style. Perhaps the best part about being an adult is getting to eat dessert for dinner every once in a while. And if Max is anything like the Max that Alex knew in high school, he’s sure that Nova’s gonna get exactly what she asks for. He can’t imagine anyone being able to say no to that adorable face of hers. 

“Sounds like you’ve got a more fun night than your daddy planned then,” he says. He reaches out to readjust her headband, which has started to slip. When he’s done he accidentally brushes her ear and she gasps. 

“What?” he asks, worried he’s somehow hurt her, but she’s tilting her head and looking at him carefully, like she’s trying to solve some kind of puzzle. She reaches out to grab his hand in her tiny one. 

“I know you,” she says, confused. 

“Well I know your daddy,” Alex says with a shrug. Perhaps she’s seen pictures of him around from high school. Alex doesn’t remember taking all that many pictures together, especially since they’d hung out in different circles, but he imagines it’s possible. 

She shakes her head. “You feel wike me,” she says. “Wike Daddy feel.” 

Alex doesn’t know how to take that. He’s not sure what she means. She tugs down on his hand until he carefully goes down on one knee. She then looks around the junkyard before leaning in close. “Ah you an albien?” she whispers. 

Alex has to bite his lips to keep from laughing at her. She looks so serious in her question, and yet, clearly she’s lost in some fantasy of her own making. It explains the antenna at least. 

“No,” he says once he’s sure he won’t laugh at her. 

She reaches out to touch his face. Her fingers tracing over his eyebrows, then his nose, then his cheekbones. Alex doesn’t typically enjoy being touched by others, especially not people that he doesn’t know. But Nova feels different. After all, she’s part of Michael, so she feels safe somehow. 

Still, it is odd and he’s not sure what she’s trying to do. Maybe it’s a typical kid thing? He wouldn’t know. After a minute, she pulls away and just stares at him, her little forehead crinkled in confusion. 

“Ah you my ottah daddy?” she asks. 

Alex leans back, taken completely off guard by the question. 

“What?” he asks, positive that he’s misunderstood her. That he’s just struggling with her underdeveloped speech. She certainly couldn’t be asking if he’s her other dad. 

“Nova Mae Guerin!” Somebody calls out. When Alex looks over his shoulder, he sees old man Sanders coming their way, looking crankier than Alex remembers him. “What did I tell you about talkin’ to strangers?” 

“He not a fangah,” Nova says, rolling her eyes in a move that is  _ so _ Michael it nearly takes Alex’s breath away. “He my daddy.” This time when she says it, she’s sure of herself. It’s not a question. It’s a fact. 

Alex stands up, taking several steps back, shaking his head as he tries to figure out where Nova is getting this from. He’s Michael’s friend. That’s it. That’s what she means to say right? That he’s Michael’s friend. The kid doesn’t have great speech. She’s probably just forgetting a few key words there. 

“What’s going on?” Michael comes out from the garage, and the moment he spots Alex he freezes for a split second. It’s brief, but Alex sees it. “I thought we were meeting there,” he says, trying for casual and failing. 

“I figured I’d give you a ride,” Alex says awkwardly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Designed to give them some more time together, but he’s quickly regretting that decision. 

Nova stands up and turns to Michael, hands on her hips. “He my daddy.” 

The look on Michael’s face would be amusing if Alex wasn’t so fucking confused. Michael looks horrified. 

“Why don’t we go inside, Rugrat,” Sanders says, moving to grab Nova’s wrist but she pulls it out of his grip. 

“No,” she says firmly. Eyes glued to Michael’s. “He my daddy.” 

“Nova—” Michael starts to say as Alex says, “I’m your daddy’s  _ friend _ .” 

“No,” she says again, shaking her head. Alex can see tears starting to fill her eyes. He can’t blame her. The tension in the air is palpable. It went from zero to sixty in two seconds flat. Michael moves to pick her up and she lets him, burying her face in his neck. 

“I feel him,” he hears her say. Michael rubs her back and tries to calm her. 

“Maybe I should go,” Alex says, starting to back away. It was clearly a mistake to come here. He hadn’t thought things through. He totally understands now why single parents talk about what a big deal it is to introduce their kids to others. Not that Alex came here expecting to meet Nova. Alex hadn’t come here with any agenda. He just hadn’t thought. 

“No,” Michael says, reaching out to him, just barely falling short of grabbing his wrist and forcing him to stay. “Please. Just give me a minute. Will you?” 

Alex wants to run. His instincts are telling him to bolt before this can get any worse, but Michael’s eyes are soft and Alex  _ wants _ . He’s sick of running from the things he wants. He wants to be the kind of man that stays. 

He agrees and clearly it’s the right move, because Michael breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. Please.” 

Michael walks away with Nova in his arms. He can’t make out what she’s saying, but it’s painfully obvious that she’s crying. Alex feels awful, even if he’s still relatively sure he hadn’t done anything wrong. 

Sanders stays behind another minute to glare at Alex. For what, Alex isn’t really sure. He’s not even sure what happened or how any of this is his fault. Eventually Sanders grumbles something under his breath that Alex can’t hear and walks after Michael. 

And like that, Alex is left alone with only his thoughts to keep him company, which is never a great idea. He stands there awkwardly for several moments, unsure what to do with himself, replaying the entire thing in his head over and over, trying to figure out what happened. As far as he could tell, they’d been having a nice conversation, then Nova had called him her dad. 

Nova had called him her dad. 

He tries not to let that freak him out, even though it does. He tells himself that Michael is going to come out here and explain that it had all been a misunderstanding. That Nova had just meant that he is Michael’s friend. But everyone’s reaction, including Nova’s, doesn’t add up if it is all a simple miscommunication. 

Feeling the twinge in his hip from earlier intensify, he decides to sit down. He wants to bold. Because right now, running feels like the best option. But he’d promised Michael he would stay and so he’s staying. He takes Nova’s stuffed dog out of the chair and places it on the table before taking a seat. In an effort to keep his mind off of things so he doesn't spiral and run, he picks up Nova’s workbook and looks through it. 

He’s impressed to see that she’s not just working on multiplication, but also on multi-digit addition and subtraction using a number line and even some introductory fractions. It’s easy to tell where Michael has helped her out based on the different handwriting. He can just picture the two of them sitting at the table going over math together. Like a real family. Like the kind of family neither of them had growing up. 

There’s a monetary longing that wants something that domestic for himself, but he doesn’t want it so badly that he’s ready for Nova to call him Daddy. That feels about 15 steps further than what he’d been prepared for today. He’d just wanted to have a friendly dinner at the Crashdown. He’d wanted to catch up. See if they could find a way to communicate without killing each other. 

He hears shuffling of feet and looks up to see Michael walking over to him, hands in his pockets, radiating nerves. Alex hates it. He wants so badly to go back to the ease they had around each other as kids. He looks around for something to break up the obvious tension. 

“You’re teaching your kid multiplication?” he asks, holding up her workbook. “That’s impressive.” 

“Multiplication is just addition,” he says, echoing what Nova told him earlier. He sounds distant though. Unengaged. 

Alex hopes that it’s something that will pass and isn’t an indication that their entire evening is ruined. Maybe if they ignore what just happened they can get past this. Maybe Alex just needs to power through and Michael will as well. 

“You ready to go?” he asks, nodding towards his car. 

“Listen, about what Nova said—” 

Alex cuts him off, holding up his hands. “It’s fine. She’s a kid. They have healthy imaginations, right?” 

“Yeah…” Michael says, trailing off. Looking like he wants to say more but doesn’t know how. 

“Michael, it’s  _ fine _ , I promise,” he tries to assure him while also attempting to stop the conversation in its tracks before it grows uncomfortable. 

Michael lets out a heavy breath. “No, we need to talk.” 

Alex’s stomach sinks. Nothing good has ever come out of those four words. Alex steels himself for bad news, already mentally regretting not bolting earlier. But he’s in it now, so he’s going to have to find a way to push through it. 

“Nova’s not wrong,” Michael says, kicking at the dirt and refusing to meet his eyes. 

“What?” he asks. He doesn't understand. Not wrong about what? Calling him dad? That’s insane. Of course Nova shouldn't be calling him Dad. They only just met. Alex isn’t her father,  _ Michael _ is. 

“I don’t really know how to explain this, but Nova’s your kid,” he says. “ _ Our _ kid.” 

Alex starts laughing as he takes several steps back. “Wow. Okay. Um… You know, I thought we might be ready to figure our shit out. But clearly not.” 

“Alex—” Michael follows after him but Alex cuts him off, holding up his hand to stop him from coming any closer. 

“I’m not even sure I’m ready to date anyone and you, what? Wanna start talking about parenting together?” He can’t help but laugh. “What the hell is this?” 

“If you would just listen to me,” Michael says, frustrated. 

“Listen to what? Some desperate attempt to keep me around this time,” he says. “Have you lost your mind? Is this some kind of sick trap? I’m not your kid’s dad. I’m sorry that you lost her mom or whatever, I truly am, but what are you trying to accomplish here?” 

“This isn’t some trick or whatever, Jesus,” Michael says. “Is that how little you think of me?” 

“I don’t know what to think of you,” Alex says. “I don’t even really know you.” 

Michael takes a step back, looking stung. “You know me. You’ve always known me.” 

“Yeah and you know what I know? You’ve always been desperate for a family. Always wanted me to stay. You’ve had some naive fantasy in your head since we were kids that all we needed was each other and everything would work out like some kind of fairytale. The world doesn’t work like that,” Alex snaps. 

“No shit!” Michael argues. “You think anything in my life has been a fairytale? You think I don’t know what the real world is like? You grew up in this perfect McMansion and I lived in my truck. What the hell do  _ you _ know?” 

The moment the words are out of Michael’s mouth, he can see that he regrets them. But it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve been said. “Alex, I—”

“No,” he cuts him off. “It’s fine.” 

He turns around and walks to his car. 

“Please let’s just talk,” Michael says, but Alex doesn’t respond to him. His entire body is screaming at him to run. He opens his door when a huge burst of wind comes out of nowhere and slams the door closed again. Then his car locks itself. 

He turns to look at Michael in confusion and he can’t help but notice the tears streaming down his face. The tears only serve to make Alex angrier. Where the hell does he get off acting like the wronged party here? 

“I don’t want to talk,” Alex says. “I just want to go home.” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Michael says. “Don’t go. Just… Can we  _ please _ just talk.” 

Alex pulls out his keys and presses the unlock button, but the door quickly re-locks itself. 

“What the hell?” When he looks back over at Michael, he’s got an intense look of concentration on his face and something clicks for Alex, even if it seems impossible. He looks between the door and Michael several times. 

“Are you doing this?” Alex asks. Michael nods his head, taking several deep breaths until his hands unclench and his shoulder relax a bit. 

“How?” Alex asks, torn between confusion, disbelief, and anger. 

Michael looks at him, his eyes vulnerable, and says, “I’m an alien.” 

Alex is about to tell him to fuck off, that he deserves more than being the punchline of some joke, but something about Michael’s face tells him not to. 

“What are you talking about?” he asks, anger still simmering under the surface, but his curiosity wins out. 

Nova’s stuffed dog rises up from the table on its own, and comes to dance in front of Alex’s face. He schools his expression, refuses to let Michael see how freaked out he is by all of this. 

“My family crashed here in 1947,” Michael says. “And we were in these pods where we stayed for 50 years, until we hatched. And that’s when we were found out in the desert. I’m one of the Roswell aliens.” 

“But…” it’s on the tip of his tongue to say that aliens aren’t real, but how can Alex deny what’s right in front of his face. Even if Michael isn’t an alien, he’s certainly something. Nobody has telekinetic powers outside of comic books and sci-fi movies. “I don’t understand.”

He shakes his head. None of it makes any sense. 

“Nova’s ours,” he says slowly, carefully. Each word carefully selected. “Because four and a half years ago, you got me pregnant.” 

And if Alex finds it hard to believe that Michael is an alien, that has nothing on finding out that he somehow got Michael pregnant. 


End file.
